The International Olympic Committee has agreed rights deals with a number of broadcasters in sub-Saharan Africa for the Olympic Games schedule covering the 2018 and 2022 winter Games and the 2020 and 2024 summer Games.
DSTV, the pay-television operator owned by Multichoice, has acquired pay-television rights to each edition of the Games in South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa. Multichoice is also the parent company of SuperSport, the pay-television broadcaster that operates in sub-Saharan Africa.
Meanwhile, telecommunications and television provider Econet Media, which operates pay-television broadcaster Kwesé TV, has secured free-to-air and pay-television rights to the Games in sub-Saharan Africa, excluding South Africa.
Both deals cover Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Swaziland, United Republic of Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The deals were first reported by TV Sports Markets on May 12.
In addition, South African public-service broadcaster the SABC has acquired free-to-air rights for the Games, covering the same 2018 to 2024 period.
The Econet and SABC deals include commitments to broadcast at least 200 hours of live or same-day coverage of each Games, as well as daily highlights of the winter Games on free-to-air television.